Where have the times gone? Baby, it's all wrong

The wasted youth I spent in payphones. 

There aren't many any more are there?   

In Town there used to be one at the bottom of the road leading to our estate, there were three outside the post office, there was one ACROSS the road from the post office, there was one out side the town hall, there was one outside my mate's house. There was one at the end of Kennedy Road, they were everywhere. 

When there were buttons, (A and B)  (A to connect, B to return your money)  there was always the hope that if you pushed B someone else's money would be returned to you :-) 

Rainy nights when neither of you wanted to play at each other's house those phone boxes made great play areas.  I leaned against the wall, my mate sat on the shelf.  And if there were Phone books... oh the joy, the phone books.  We would phone folk at random and go straight into the middle of a conversation with them. 

Remember party-lines?  Sometimes you picked the phone in the house up - and there would be someone on the line....

And the Operator. .. sometimes the operator would be there.  

And the graffiti  - wow the things people wrote on these phone boxes.  You got the worst gossip in there, and sometimes found out things about folk you would never have guessed. 

Sadly, when I bimbled over to look at this modernist silver metallic box i realised it wasn't graffiti I was seeing, merely scraped walls.  There was nothing to read and giggle at.